A Malfoy-Potter Halloween
by sumthin.clever.5
Summary: Harry loves dressing the children up for Halloween.


Harry wasn't sure why he liked Halloween so much. It's not like he'd ever gotten to dress up and trick or treat when he was with the Dursleys. They'd dress Dudley up as things he'd never be- a firefighter, a super hero, a doctor- someone that actually helped people. Then they'd leave Harry at home and take Ickle Diddykins round the neighbourhood and he'd load up on more candy than usual. Marginally. Harry only appreciated this because he could sometimes sneak a sweet from Dudley's pile without anyone noticing.

While Harry never really got to participate, he'd loved the idea of Halloween. A time when you could dress up and be something else for awhile, someone else. It's all he'd wanted during some of those years.

Even during Hogwarts, Halloween had been amazing. While no one dressed up, there'd been a feast and decorations and entertainment. Harry hadn't needed to dress up then, be someone else. Though his life had never been easy, and his fame was much more a pain than it was worth most of the time, his Hogwarts years had been worth it. He hadn't wanted to be anyone else.

There were moments when he got sad when he remembered it was the anniversary of his parents' deaths, and felt useless regrets for lost opportunities. But he fought hard to remember that though they died, it was out of love for him; so he tried to live enough for all of them.

Now, he loved dressing his own kids up and letting them get high on sugar for a bit. Not to mention putting them in costume never failed to piss off his husband, which was always fun.

"Potter! Absolutely not! There is no way I'm allowing Celeste to be seen in this."

Draco marched out into the backyard where Harry had been stargazing and preparing for their night of trick or treating in the nearby muggle neighbourhood. Draco held up their daughter, three-year-old Celeste, who giggled at her Father's affront, and reached back to touch the wings of her ladybug costume.

"Oh, come on, Draco. She's adorable."

"You want my daughter to be an _insect_?!"

Harry tried valiantly to bite back his smile. He knew that would rankle Draco more than usual. He also knew he didn't succeed in his subterfuge when Draco's eyes blazed hotter at being laughed at.

"And what the devil are the twins? I'm afraid to see what you've done to them."

Draco didn't have to wait long. Just then their five-year-old twins, Ethan and Ian, raced out of the house in their costumes- sporting brown shells, green skin, and colorful strips across their masks' eyes.

"I don't…what in the name of Merlin… my children are TURTLES?!"

Harry couldn't even try to hide his grin this time, but the twins answered before Harry could.

"Not just any turtles, Father!" Ian corrected.

"We're Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Mutant…ninja…turtles…" Draco visibly tried to wrap his mind and his tongue around such a preposterous notion.

" _Teenage_ Mutant Ninja Turtles," Ian emphasised.

Harry could see Draco completely give up on trying to process that and went back to glaring at Harry.

"So I have an insect and mutant turtles," he said.

"Teenage Mutant _Ninja_ Turtles," Ethan reminded him.

Draco's eyes closed and Harry could tell he was trying to draw on his reserve of patience. Harry and the children kept him in short supply, which made him an absolute nightmare to work with, or so Harry'd heard grumbled by the Healers who apprenticed under Draco at St. Mungo's. It just made their married life more fun to Harry, who eagerly took up the gauntlet when people said clearly Malfoy just needed a shag. _That_ was certainly never a problem for them.

"I don't even know what to say," Draco muttered lowly.

"You can say, 'let's go.' Soon all the good candy will be gone," Harry input while the children gave horrified gasps and ushered their parents toward the front door. Celeste wiggled down from her Father's arms to help push with a "Down Fafer."

Draco relented under the combined onslaught of their three children but he did not do so gracefully. Harry smiled at the scene. Draco may put up a fuss but he went along with this every year. The children and their happiness his biggest weakness. Harry was a weakness, but he worked much harder at being a strength.

Draco just wasn't a fan of the trick or treating thing. He didn't see the point. If the children wanted candy, they could go out and buy them candy. Harry had tried to explain to him once about playing pretend, about dressing up and getting to be something or someone else for awhile. But Draco just looked at him blankly and said, "They're Malfoy- Potters. Why would they want to be something else?" Harry had rolled his eyes and dropped the topic.

It also didn't help that Harry enjoyed dressing the children in increasingly ridiculous costumes. Last year Celeste had been a pumpkin and the twins had been dressed up as the muggles' idea of wizards- an inside joke if ever there was one. Really, after seven years, Harry just still found joy in annoying his husband. Plus, the kids had fun.

As the family walked toward the Apparition point to get to the neighbourhood sooner, Harry grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him into an embrace and kissed away his petulant pout.

"I'm not over this, Potter. Mutants and insects," he scoffed, but Harry saw his lips twitch in an almost smile.

Harry laughed and gave him another smacking kiss before going to retrieve their twins for a Side Along while Draco grabbed Celeste.

"You can punish me later," Harry said with a grin filled with devilish delights before he turned with his armfuls of twin and vanished.

"Double, double, toil, and trouble. Something wicked this way comes," Draco said to the air where Harry'd vanished before dropping a kiss to their daughter's head, spinning, and following after his family for yet another year of ridiculous muggle mayhem.


End file.
